A former British solider at the centre
of revelations about the killings of unarmed civilians in Northern
Ireland has denied his secretive unit acted outside the law.

Tonight's BBC Panorama programme claims that an undercover unit of the British Army in Northern Ireland tasked with
'hunting down' IRA members killed unarmed suspects.In the episode, entitled Britain's Secret Terror, former members of
the Military Reaction Force (MRF) revealed that they wore disguises as
they tracked down potential terrorists, labelled by one as 'hardcore
baby-killers', in Belfast as the Troubles raged in the early 1970s.

Revelations: Alongside uniformed British
soldiers, shown here working to combat rioting in West Belfast, 1976,
undercover unit, the Military Reaction Force, was also in operation and
hunting IRA members. The unit has today been accused of killing unarmed
suspects

The unit, which was disbanded in 1973,
would allegedly patrol west Belfast around the clock in unmarked cars
and would shoot suspected IRA members.

Panorama also alleges that there were several ‘drive by’ shootings
carried out by MRF soldiers, in which people were killed and wounded -
even though there is no independent evidence that any of them were armed
or were members of the IRA.

Speaking
publicly for the first time on Panorama, some ex-members of the unit
admitted firing on groups of people on the streets of Belfast even if
they could not be sure they were carrying weapons. One
former MRF member has admitted killing, but denied operating outside
the rules of engagement which covered the British Army in Northern
Ireland at that time. The ex-intelligence officer, who wrote the book
‘MRF Shadow Troop’ which prompted the Panorama investigation, protects
his identity for fear of IRA reprisals and now operates under the name
Simon Cursey. 'We were there to protect the innocent people of
Northern Ireland,” said Cursey, who was recruited to the MRF at its
inception in 1972.

'If people got in our way and they were armed,
they were dealt with. It’s as simple as that. I can not recall any
situation whereby any member of our unit ever opened fire on innocent or
unarmed people.

'But we were right in the middle of the hard areas,
surrounded by terrorists or terrorist sympathisers. We were working
alone or in very small units most of the time, We did not have the
support of a whole platoon with tanks or guns. When you are alone like
that, you can’t mess around.

'I killed people. But I’ve never had
nightmares about it or a loss of sleep. Nothing, nothing like that. The
people we were dealing with killed women and children. They murdered
people for nothing.'We were acting a counter-terrorist unit and, as
far as I am concerned, we never did anything wrong. We did not target
innocent people, we did not need to. We never opened fire on innocent
people, we just targeted people with weapons. There were so many people
running around the streets of Belfast with weapons that we did not need
to target innocent people.'

The Panorama revelations come after the Attorney
General in Northern Ireland proposed an 'amnesty' for those suspected of
scores of unsolved murders during the Northern Ireland Troubles.

Seven former MRF members of the force
spoke to Panorama reporter John Ware about their involvement in the
unit, while three of them appeared on camera, although they were heavily
disguised with make-up and had their voices altered.

The
three men told Panorama that they believed they had saved the lives of
many innocent people who were caught in the crossfire of the Troubles.

Speaking
anonymously, the former members claimed they had posed as Belfast City
Council road sweepers, dustmen and even 'meths drinkers' to conduct
their operation.

One former member of the unit said: 'We never wore uniform - very few people knew what rank anyone was anyway.

'We were hunting down hardcore baby-killers, terrorists, people that would kill you without even thinking about it.

'We were not there to act like an army unit, we were there to act like a
terror group,' said one former MRF soldier.

'We were there in a
position to go after IRA and kill them when we found them.'

The men addressed each other by first name and
dispensed with ranks and dog tags.

One
described their mission as to 'draw out the IRA and to minimise their
activities... if they needed shooting, they'd be shot'.

All seven former MRF soldiers acknowledged that they sometimes acted
in contravention of the ‘Yellow Card’ - the strict rules carried by
every soldier, which spelt out the circumstances under which they could
open fire and stay within the law. Generally, lethal force was only
lawful when the lives of security forces or others were in immediate
danger.

However, another MRF soldier explained: 'If you had a
player who was a well-known shooter who carried out quite a lot of
assassinations…

He added: 'It would have been very simple, he had to be taken out.'

All the soldiers denied that they were part of a 'death' or 'assassination squad'. The Ministry of Defence said it had referred the disclosures to police.

Panorama identified 10 unarmed civilians shot, according to witnesses, by the MRF:

Brothers John and Gerry Conway, on the way to their fruit stall in Belfast city centre on April 15, 1972;

Aiden McAloon and Eugene Devlin, in a taxi taking them home from a disco on May 12, 1972;

Daniel Rooney and Brendan Brennan, on the Falls Road on September 27, 1972.

The
Ministry of Defence refused to comment on claims that soldiers involved
in specific shootings had been members of the MRF, and said that the
armed forces serving in Northern Ireland were accountable to UK and
humanitarian laws. According
to the Panorama programme, the MRF consisted of around 40 men, hand
picked from across the British Army, and was disbanded 40 years ago
after just 18 months in operation. Patricia McVeigh told the BBC her father, Patrick McVeigh, had been shot and killed by plain clothes soldiers on May 12, 1972, as he was stood by a car in west Belfast.

The father of six was a member of the Catholic Ex-Servicemen's Club, whose members had been manning barricades in Belfast.

Victim: Daniel Rooney, 18, was allegedly killed
by members of an MRF patrol on September 26, 1972. The Army claimed he
was an IRA gunman but the IRA have never claimed him as a member.
Forensic tests at the time showed he had not fired a weapon

The 44-year-old died two minutes later after being hit in the back - despite being unarmed. Mr McVeigh's family have been campaigning for justice for him ever since.

'He
was an innocent man, he had every right to be on the street walking
home. He didn't deserve to die like this,' she told the programme.

Although
soldiers involved in the shooting of Mr McVeigh made statements to the
Royal Military Police saying they had been shot at, Panorama says there
is no evidence that McVeigh or anyone beside him were members of the
IRA.

Accused: Patrick McVeigh was killed by an MRF
patrol who claimed he was holding a weapon. Forensic tests were negative
and his family have been fighting for 40 years to clear his name

Tony Le Tissier, a Major in the Royal
Military Police, told Panorama: 'They were playing at being bandits,
they were meant to be sort of IRA outlaws. That’s why they were in plain
clothes, operating plain vehicles and using a Thompson sub-machine
gun.'

The MRF soldiers told
Panorama they agreed to be interviewed because they believed their role
in the fight against the IRA had gone unrecognised.

The
police are currently re-investigating Bloody Sunday, with relatives of
those killed having long campaigned for the soldiers allegedly involved
to be prosecuted.

John Larkin QC, the Attorney General in Northern Ireland, has called for an end to 'prosecutions, inquests and other inquiries' into deaths before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

The 1998 Omagh bomb, which happened after the Good Friday Agreement was signed, would not be covered by Mr Larkin's suggestion.

Mr
Larkin said this would not amount to an amnesty - the pre-1998 offences
would still be crimes but they would no longer be prosecuted.Ruling out an amnesty, David Cameron told the Commons it would be 'rather dangerous' to block possible future prosecutions. Former
US diplomat Dr Richard Haass is trying to achieve political consensus
on a number of issues as yet unresolved during the peace process – one
of which is how the province addresses the legacy of its violent past
and the seemingly endless unanswered questions over killings carried out
by all sides. Mr Larkin outlined his controversial proposals in a submission to Dr Haass.

An
MoD spokesman said on the claims that the MRF shot unarmed civilians:
'The Armed Forces served with full accountability to the law and the MOD
continues to support and cooperate fully with all ongoing
investigations dealing with Op Banner legacy issues. The
UK has strict rules of engagement which are in accordance with UK Law
and International Humanitarian Law. These applied to operations in
Northern Ireland.

'Soldiers were at all times subject to general criminal law on the use
of force which was made clear to them in training and before operations;
specifically on the use of the Yellow Card which clearly explained the
circumstances in which it was permitted to open fire. Where
allegations of criminality are involved it is up to the Police Service
of Northern Ireland to consider whether any investigation is necessary
and, if appropriate, to take it forward.

Justice: Patricia McVeigh, daughter of Patrick McVeigh, told the programme her father was an innocent man

'The Ministry of Defence has cooperated fully with their inquiries. Whilst
the Armed Forces and MoD recognise the contentious nature of certain
issues relating to its involvement in Operation Banner (1969-2007), the
invaluable work and personal sacrifice by tens of thousands of military
personnel contributed to establishment of the framework allowing today’s
political progress and peace.'

Speaking
today, Colonel Richard Kemp said that thousands of British Army
soldiers stuck to the rules of engagement in Northern Ireland, but said
that where there was evidence of murder it should be investigated.

'Thousands
of forces went through Northern Ireland and stuck to the Yellow Card,
to keep a soldier operating within the law. It may be that some didn't,'
he said.

Investigation: Panorama reporter John Ware on
the Whiterock Road, Belfast, where it is alleged that fruit sellers John
and Gerry Conway were mistaken for IRA gunmen and shot by plain clothes
soldiers on April 15, 1972

'Soldiers often speak with bravado, and I wonder how many people on the programme say that they shot people themselves.'He
added: 'If there is evidence that soldiers acted unlawfully they need
to be charged. But I also believe at the same time that all the cases of
alleged murder should be investigated with the same vigour.'

Speaking today Miss McVeigh said:'There
was nothing brave about shooting an unarmed man and the fact that my
father was shot in the back shows they didn't follow the Yellow Card
rules,' she said. 'These men were forensically tested (to show they were
unarmed). These men were compensated by the Ministry of Defence but no
one was charged with any crime ever.'

She added that she wants the men responsible to stand trial.'That
is what we expect - some form of justice. When you kill someone you
have to be brought to court no matter how long ago that was.'

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